GIRLS HOOPS: Caney Creek is looking for scorers to step up

Caney Creek's Betty Heredia (24) shoots during the high school girls basketball game against Splendora last year.

Caney Creek's Betty Heredia (24) shoots during the high school girls basketball game against Splendora last year.

Photo: Michael Minasi, Staff Photographer / Houston Chronicle

Photo: Michael Minasi, Staff Photographer / Houston Chronicle

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Caney Creek's Betty Heredia (24) shoots during the high school girls basketball game against Splendora last year.

Caney Creek's Betty Heredia (24) shoots during the high school girls basketball game against Splendora last year.

Photo: Michael Minasi, Staff Photographer / Houston Chronicle

GIRLS HOOPS: Caney Creek is looking for scorers to step up

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It’s Caney Creek coach Jay White’s fourth year at helm and his philosophies are basically embedded.

“We run one play we base everything off of,” White said in a recent phone interview. “It’s really nice not having to teach new stuff.”

The 2018-19 edition of the Lady Panthers basketball team is looking for some offense.

The team lost nearly half their scoring from last year with the graduation of point guard Erica Strawn, who ended up signing with Arlington Baptist College. Strawn was a second-team All-District performer as a senior.

“Losing Erica, we lost about 40 percent of our scoring,” White said.

Caney Creek was 6-22 last year with four of those wins happening within the first five games during non-district play. The Lady Panthers were 1-17 in district play and averaged 32 points per game during the year.

Four seniors are back with two of them with starting experience.

White said his go-to players on offense will be senior post Betty Heredia and senior point guard Daniella Faz.

“She’ll be setting things up and making sure everything is run right,” White said of Faz “Daniella has finally discovered her outside shot. Hopefully that will help with scoring.”

White has senior Tori McVey penciled into the shooting guard spot of his starting lineup while senior Shaylin Ardoin is the starting power forward.

The last spot of the starting five was still up in the air as Caney Creek played in scrimmages last weekend.

White noted the addition of Blakely Niles, a multi-sport varsity athlete at Caney Creek. On that front, the Lady Panthers also have Ibel Darkenwald, a region qualifier cross country runner, on the roster as well.

There’s also a transfer from Conroe in Lexi Walls and an athletic sophomore in Jamiyah Willis moving up to varsity.

“As far as numbers go, I’m really pleased with the number of kids we have,” White said. “It’s just up to us to get them set on the correct teams. We have a lot of kids that play more than one sport.”

The Lady Panthers haven’t reached the postseason in 12 years and enter a new District 20-5A after realignment last winter. New foes include district opponents from the last two years in New Caney, Porter and Kingwood Park. Montgomery, Lake Creek, Willis, Huntsville and Tomball round out the nine-team league.

“They play hard,” White said. “They know what to do now. They are coaches out there. You just have to execute just like any other sport. You just have to put the ball in the hole. It doesn’t matter what play you run. If you can’t put the ball in the hole, you won’t win.”